I thougth of what will happen forward and also
Its likley they knew it for some time, but i dont think they knew a year ago or that they planned it a year ago or something like that.

Ah, I think we are talking about two different things. I was referring to the fact that 4 days ago, TET said "I can promise that we did not go into this change with the intent of re-pricing swathes of our catalog of classic games" which, when taken alone is a flat-out lie, since that's exactly the plan they put forward today. However, he qualified it with "in a manner that's unfair to gamers around the world". Now, this is more debatable, but it's certainly true that lowering the prices for Russian customers can hardly be considered unfair to them, so technically, the combined statement taken as a whole is true, but very much designed to mislead us.

I read that in his comment, because it is basic logic. If you take a scale of customer services from 1 to 10, then you can be better than anybody else by having a customer service value of 2, when the rest of the industry has a customer services value of 1.

Secondly, this is about undermining the core values of GOG.com. As stated, the core values were Good Old Games, Worldwide Pricing, and DRM-Free.

GOG.com started releasing newer indie titles, and there was outrage. But, this didn't undermine their core value of Good Old Games - GOG.com still brings us Good Old Games, alongside the indie titles. It isn't like they didtched the Good Old Games for newer indie games.

But Regional Pricing DOES undermine their core value of Worldwide Pricing. They can no longer claim to have Worldwide Pricing as one of their core values. Of course, they no longer have Worldwide Pricing as one of their core values - resulting in the loss of one of their core principles. The principle hasn't been supplemented - it has been removed.

I can understand that GOG.com doesn't get to decide upon the prices of their games. That comes from their so-called partners. But GOG.com does get to decide upon what games and developers to have in their catelogue.

Ultimately, GOG.com have sold their principles for more games in their catelogue. This undermines the value and trust in their other principles, and it is the very principles of GOG.com that draw people here in the first place.

All this talk about not knowing what the future will be like is nonsense. In just two years, GOG.com has sold out on a major principle, so what is to stop them from selling out on other core principles, such as DRM-Free games? Will we see DRM-fuelled monstrosities such as Heroes of Might and Magic 6 for sale in the future, simply because it is another game for the catelogue?

If GOG.com has the strength to say that they will only provide DRM-Free games in the future, then they SHOULD have the strength to commit to Worldwide Pricing as well. This is just a sign of weakness on the part of GOG.com, and will give other developers reason to implement Regional Pricing in their games, because they know that they will be able to get away with it.

Sure, there are potentially great games that won't be on GOG.com because of it's policy of Worldwide Pricing. But, you know what? There are also potentially great games that won't be on GOG.com because they are not DRM-Free. If GOG.com is willing to go after potentially great games by removing their principle of Worldwide Pricing, then why wouldn't they go after potentially great games by removing their principle of DRM-Free games?

You can't argue because they said so, since they also said they would have Worldwide Pricing, and look what has happened there. If GOG.com goes ahead with this as more than a failed experiment, then all it does is show that GOG.com doesn't have any principles and doesn't keep their word. It is ultimately damaging to the integrity and reputation of GOG.com.

With over 700 games in their catalogue, GOG.com does not need to sell their principles in order to get 3 more games. They don't even need to sell their principles to get 30 more games. I would argue that even the promise of 300 new games isn't worth GOG.com selling their principles. Even if developers promised 3,000 or more new games, it just isn't worth GOG.com selling it's principles.

I'm sorry, but there is no logic, basic or otherwise, in "treating customers better than anyone" = "okay with treating their customers like scum". None.

It does, but on the other hand, it does help increase their DRM-free catalogue (and the lack of DRM is the main difference between GOG and any other digital distributor). I happen to value that more than having one price worldwide. You can buy X game for cheap if you wait until a promo happens, either here or somewhere else. But you can't as easily buy X game DRM-free. GOG is a haven for those, and it would be a shame to see them stagnate both with their catalogue and as a company.

i came to GOG because of the steamworks DRM placed on my one-time favorite franchise, the Civilization series. The Civ series with user mods, was pretty much the only game i played. i still play Civ3 and 4 more than any. But Civ5 required a DRM scheme which i did nott accept. So i passed on the game, but wanted something new in a similar style. So i tried Stardocks War of Magic. But they went and sold their customers digital accounts to gamestop of all companies. That and other bull from Stardock compelled me to bail on them as well.

i found what i was looking for after learning of GOG. A whole store of DRM Free games. Games i could save to disk and make my own hardcopies of. i buy game with no restrictions attached. i own game in an actionable way. This was good. My reject of DRM is strong enough to break my addiction to the Civ franchise, which was great. i support GOGs efforts to end DRM. i strongly support these efforts. i can earnestly say that if i was in one the regions which gets gouged with pricing, i would still strongly support this move.

Beyond all that i see clear sign that steam makes competitive effort against GOG. GOG must make big moves in order to remain relevant. i think GOG made a wise though ugly choice. GOGspeed the growth, GOGspeed the end of DRM.

On the second point, I do agree with you, but I don't see why DRM-Free and Worldwide Pricing have to be mutually exclusive. They were both core values of GOG.com - why does one have to be at the expense of the other? I happen to value the Worldwide Pricing more - I will still play good games with DRM (however rare this actually is, since DRM tends to ruin a game).

As for the first point, you are mistaken. Let me make my argument clearer for you by using some simple maths:

Let x = GOG.com customer services, and y = industry standard customer services. The phrase "treating customers better than anyone" becomes x > y.

If we put customer services on a 1 to 10 scale, with 1 being the worst possible customer services, and 10 being the best customer services, then x > y is valid whether x = 2 and y = 1, x = 10 and y = 9, or x = 10 and y = 1.

The phrase "okay with treating their customers like scum" is the same as x = 2. I did qualify my argument with the phrase "when the rest of their industry treats their customers like crap" which is the same as y = 1.

As stated above, x > y is true when x = 2 and y = 1.

My argument is that it doesn't matter if x > y. What matters is that x > 5 (i.e. average customer service or better).

I am not saying that GOG.com customer services is bad, but rather that the statement "treating their customers better than anyone else" doesn't neccessarily mean that GOG.com customer services are good. Essentially that x > y doesn't mean that x > 5, because as has been shown, x = 2 and y = 1 are also logically valid.

I am challenging whether or not GOG.com would be happy to accept x > 1 (the worst customer service), rather than striving for x > 5 (average customer service), if not x = 10 (perfect customer service).

You can try to argue that this is unlogical, but since it is the very fundamental basis of the most logical of disciplines, I don't think that you would be very successful. You could argue that "treat like scum" is x = 1, in which case, substitute another word of your choice for x = 2. It is a semantic irrelevance at this point.

One aspect of GOGs customer service is providing DRM Free games which its customers want. i want AOE3 but will not accept DRM with it. So GOG signing a deal to get a DRM Free version of AOE3, serves me, as well others. How many others, i do not know. When other games come, which would have otherwise been DRM fouled, yet more others will be served. Are we who are served by this change a minority? Neither you nor i know. One thing for sure, GOGs continued survival serves us all. If this move empowers GOG, then all are served.

"One thing for sure, GOGs continued survival serves us all."

I didn't know GOG.com was a sinking ship, and only by throwing their ballast(read: a core value) overboard, could they save it from sinking.

I guess all those reports about how well GOG.com was doing were lies then...

It's not, but the inability to increase their offer while at the same time keeping what makes them unique (DRM-free), would eventually make them a sinking ship.

The US dollar/GBP conversion isn't as harsh as the dollar/euro one.
Also, i'm a collector and i love physical boxes. I always reviled dd. The only things that made me change my mind were fair prices and drm-free. And if the first one is gone, i see no reason not to buy retail copies instead.

GOG.com has offered ever more old games, ever more new indie games, and will soon get the Kickstarter games that promised a GOG.com release.

GOG.com will be able to increase their offer of new or old games for decades, even if people stopped making games right now.

Holy crap! If that's the case, how long will GOG.com be able to keep their servers up? Do I have to download all my games and upload them to a backup server, because GOG.com is going down the pan?

Erroneous extrapolation you make. Daily i do things towards my own continued survival - make the wrong moves in life and i die. In GOGs case with an aggressive competitor such as steam, it matters not how well they do today, if tomorrow they blunder or fail to act. If GOG does not maintain growth, they stagnate, losing leverage needed in the convincing of IP holders to release content in a DRM free state.

I do like the way that people think that it is only DRM-free games that made GOG.com unique. GOG.com was unique for Worldwide Pricing as well. So, by ditching this policy, they have already ditched what made them unique.

This is not a case of DRM-free or Worldwide Pricing. It is not a choice between x or y. It is a simple choice of whether or not to keep Worldwide Pricing, and they tossed that principle out of the window, along with the baby and the bathwater.

What GOG.com did was give the world a choice - and that is why it grew to the size it is today. Now, GOG.com is taking away that choice. It doesn't matter what the rest of the industry is doing - if GOG.com stops Worldwide Pricing, then that is one less distributor offering Worldwide Pricing. This is even worse when they are the only company offering it.

GOG.com should be helping to define the industry for the better, not reinforcing the worst aspects of the industry because "that's the way things are." It doesn't matter if GOG.com screws us from the front, or screws us from behind, we are still getting screwed. It doesn't matter how much lube they use when they screw us either.

Nice strawman, but in order for GOG to continue to be considered a viable alternative, it needs to also get those classic and AAA games that other digital distribution already have or will eventually have, and not just depend of an handful of indie games or old games that don't have a large interest by the community.


No, they haven't because DRM is still their major selling point.

Yes, it is. You may choose to ignore the problem, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Either they implement regional pricing and get access to publishers/devs/games that people have an interest in and that allows them to grow as a company, or they don't and GOG is forever limited to a closed and stagnant catalogue.